Factory farm waste: a spreading cause of environmental demise - 19 Feb 2010  
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The eastern state of North Carolina, USA has the highest concentration of pigs raised for meat in all of North America. According to one study, the 10 million confined animals generate more fecal waste daily than the human populations of North Carolina, North Dakota, New Hampshire, California, New York, Texas, and Pennsylvania – combined.

The waste matter is dumped into large multi-acre open pits, which are often colored pink due to the chemically treated feed, with a portion that is also sprayed on crops as fertilizer. However, following rains, much of this nitrate- and bacteria-filled waste runs off into the coastal plain’s river system – with damaging effects on the ecosystem and residents’ well-being.

Supreme Master Television spoke with North America-based Waterkeeper Alliance spokesperson Mr. Rick Dove, who has been documenting pollution from the region’s animal factory farms for more than 15 years.

(Phone interview in English)

Rick Dove, North Carolina, Southeastern representative for Waterkeeper Alliance (M):
On some of our rivers like the Neuse, we’ve lost over a billion dead fish since 1991, and just this year we’ve lost about two hundred million on the Neuse River. So, we’re dealing with dead fish, we’re dealing with people in the communities who are complaining of the noxious gases. You can’t get away from being in the middle of hog farms and lagoons and spray pits; they’re everywhere. These people literally cry when you talk to them.

VOICE: Mr. Dove believes such harms of industrial-scale farming will persist as long as such inhumane facilities exist.

Rick Dove (M): Just because we say it’s okay under man’s law to do something, like have all the pig farms in one place, it really isn’t okay with nature’s laws, and when those laws are broken there’s consequences, and they can be serious, very, very serious.

VOICE: To date, fatalities from the 2009 swine flu pandemic continue to rise across the globe, including 1,321 deaths now in India; 31 in Georgia; 70 in Hong Kong; 90 in Israel and 206 in Thailand. Estimated death tolls, such as the recently updated 11,690 swine flu-related losses in the United States, are believed by experts to be closer to reality than official counts, as actual cases are considered too innumerable to track.

Meanwhile, the South African Health Ministry has expressed fears of a swine flu pandemic flare-up during the coming winter months when the World Cup football tournament is anticipating a crowd of 400,000 international spectators. South African Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi stated that such an outbreak would be one of the agency’s “biggest nightmares.”

Our thanks, Mr. Rick Dove and the Waterkeeper Alliance for your efforts to document and raise awareness on the health of our precious environment. With sorrow for the victims of swine flu and other factory farming-related practices, we pray that all such threats are eliminated through our wise adoption of the organic vegan lifestyle.

Referece
http://www.waterkeeper.org/ht/display/ShowPage/id/9818/pid/9818
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/01/070119164427.htm http://www.cdc.gov/hab/pfiesteria/about.htm
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/309341,swine-flu-spectre-gives-south-africa-world-cup-nightmares.html#ixzz0fcrZUDZV
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/309341,swine-flu-spectre-gives-south-africa-world-cup-nightmares.html
http://www.dispatch.co.za/article.aspx?id=380852
http://www.foodconsumer.org/newsite/Non-food/Disease/cdc_h1n1_flu_website_situation_update_1402100352.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100212-713863.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines
http://www.mcot.net/content/21286
http://www.panorama.am/en/health/2010/02/15/israel/
http://netindian.in/news/2010/02/17/0005386/6-more-swine-flu-deaths-india-toll-rises-1321 
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2010-02/17/c_13178154.htm
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/health/2010-02/16/c_13176568.htm